Stereotypes In We Are There By Tommy Orange

The novel, “There There” by Tommy Orange follows the stories of a plethora of characters, sharing many unique experiences with the readers. Themes of gender, identity, community, race, and assimilation can be seen throughout these stories, as the characters experience them firsthand. The journeys these characters experience connect these themes to the terms culture, multiracial person, and stereotype through showcasing the impact that these terms have on the characters and their stories.
Culture is a term referring to the practices, arts, and achievements of a nation or group of people. Strong traces of culture can be seen throughout the novel, as the characters all have unique experiences with the same culture. Orvil Red Feather is a prime

Stereotypes can be harmful to those they pertain to, as they can contain false negative connotations that have the power to demonize entire groups of people. The formation of a negative stereotype could result from the events at the powwow near the novel’s conclusion, as the acts of violence and robbery committed by Native people against other Native people could reflect negatively on the entire community. The acts committed by a small number of the population could make the entire community appear to be unsympathetic and violent to an outsider who will not take the time to understand the community as a whole. Evidence of this lack of interest in other cultures can be seen when Tony talks to a white woman on the train. He invites her to attend the powwow, but she makes an excuse, and he stops listening to her speak because he knows that, “People don’t want any more than a little story they can bring back with them, to tell their friends and family around the dinner table, to talk about how they saw a real Native American boy on a train, that they still exist” (Orange 235). Her desire to only interact with the culture for a story to tell others shows the lack of interest the general public has in understanding communities they are not a part of. This contributes to the formation of negative stereotypes, as people do not take the time to see if stereotypes are accurate, instead allowing derogatory stereotypes define entire